Food for SoulShine light on invisible potential

Annual Report 2018

2 Food for SoulFood for Soul

“Culture brings knowledge. Knowledge leads to

consciousness. And when we become conscious we are one

short step away from becoming socially responsible. Culture is the key.”

(Massimo Bottura)

3Food for Soul

Food for Soul is a cultural project founded by chef Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmoreto shine light on invisible potential.

By doing that, we build culture as a way of strenghtening communities’ resilience, opening opportunities for social mobility and advocating for equitable food ecosystems.

Vision and Mission

Credits: Angelo Dal Bo

4 Food for Soul

Our ValuesFood for Soul’s core values are essential to the organisation’s culture and identity. They provide purpose to the organisation and help us to fullfil our vision and mission. They define our work culture and guide us in the way we operate with each of our stakeholders.

Collaboration

Potential

Empathy

Excellence

Integrity

Imagination

In recognition of the power of human connection, we collaborate with people from all cultures and backgrounds. We believe that shared goals and mutual support can lead to greater impact; and that only though collaboration, we can hope to multiply our contribution.

We believe and invest in unlocking the energy that food, people and places have. By offering opportunities that celebrate this potential, we hope to be able to unlock it and make it visible.

We work with empathy. Our words and actions are driven by the desire to connect, overcome social norms and build bridges.

Excellence is a tangible value. Every moment is for us an opportunity and we are committed to giving it the time and attention it deserves. We avoid losing ourselves in the routine by striving to be the best version of ourselves and to act upon it.

We let our actions speak for us. By seeking to lead by example and stand behind our ideas, we hope to be able to show what it’s possbile, inspire confidence and build relationships based on trust.

Imagination is the first spark of creativity. We commit to creating spaces and experiences that are the result of creative processes, and that foster and celebrate imagination as a result.

5Food for Soul

Our values as an organisation live through Food for Soul’s guiding principles, which we apply to each of our programs. Our Guiding Principles are the Quality of Ideas, the Power of Beauty, and the Value of Hospitality.

Quality of IdeasBy collaborating with communitymembers, chefs, artists, organisations and professionals from different fields, our aim is to imagine and create places and experiences that can be platforms for learning and exchange. We strongly believe that the quality of the ideas that we bring together through our programs can make our voice louder, send our message further, and inspire others to act.

Power of BeautyBeauty is a universal language, whose power can inspire and unveil hidden potential. Moments of beauty - be it art, design, music or an act of kindness - can take people out of their daily experience and help them to connect with each other. By creating spaces and experiences that actively celebrate the equal right of all to beauty, our aim is to encourage people to embrace empathy, and to form human connections that can be powerful vehicles for change.

Value of HospitalityWe believe in the power of hospitality to create experiences that have an emotional impact and that can make people feel seen and cared for. Through the excellence of our services, the integrity of our motivation, and the attention we dedicate to each of our stakeholders, our aim is to ensure a sense of dignity, caring and belonging that motivates them to express themselves and their ideas.

Our Principles

Credits: Isabella Belena

Credits: Simon Owen Red Photographic

Credits: Simon Owen Red Photographic

6 Food for Soul

Credits: Caritas Ambrosiana

7Food for Soul

Our Programs

Refettorios & Social Tables

Refettorios are community kitchens where guests in need are served nutritious and nourishing dishes in convivial atmospheres. The word Refettorio comes from the Latin reficere, meaning ‘to re-make’, but also ‘to restore’. With the help of different partners, we restore and renovate neglected or underused spaces transforming them into inspiring community hubs, open Monday to Friday, where people in situations of social vulnerability can feel welcome, and where the community can rediscover the value of the abandoned and the potential behind food surplus.

Social Tables are services offered once a week in pre-existing community spaces, where we invite families and individuals in need to join ur table. By involving chefs, food suppliers, artists and designers we aim to empower a local network of actors to create an inclusive and conscious community.

Learning Network

The Learning Network was created with the idea of developing a community of operational partners and a creative space for open dialogue, the exchange of information, and to test theories of impact.The long-term vision is to develop this community into empowered actors, demonstrating transformative examples of equitable and inclusive programs designed to promote a just food ecosystem and advocate for the value of human potential.

Through our Guiding Principles, we trascend innovative ideas into actionable opportunities that break social norms and rediscover, restore and reinvent people, places and spaces. Food for Soul’s efforts focus on two programmatic initiatives:

8 Food for Soul

Refettorio Paris opened its doors in March 2018 at Le Foyer de la Madeleine, a neighborhood restaurant located in the crypt of the Church of La Madeleine, that serves lunch every week day at a resonable price. In the evenings, Refettorio Paris offers a welcoming dinnertime service to vulnerable members of the community including homeless, rough sleepers and refugees. To assist us in this mission, we have been working with intermediary associations such as Emmaus, Solidaritè, Ozanam, Aurore and Singa to identify and invite guests with the mission of promoting cultural and sustainable inclusion.

Resident chefs Maxime and Solene cook healthy and delicious meals for the guests of the Refettorio using surplus ingredients delivered by different suppliers across the city and that would otherwise go to waste. Every couple of weeks, guest chefs from Paris and the whole of France volunteer in the kitchen of the Refettorio, supporting the resident chefs to prepare a balanced and in-season meal. By doing so, guest chefs share their knowledge and creatity with the staff contributing to delivering a high-quality service that is also culturally appropriate. Both in the kitchen and in the dining area, the Refettorio staff is assisted by a team of volunteers who work side by side every day to make sure that the service runs smoothly and that the guests feel welcome and at ease.

For the opening, artists, architects and designers - including JR, Prune Nourry, Nicola Delon and Ramy Fischler - worked together to transform the restaurant Le Foyer de la Madeleine into an even more engaging and inspiring space for the whole community. Over the past year, the Refettorio staff has been using the space to engage with the local community and to fulfill the mission and vision of the Refettorio. Last June, for instance, the Refettorio opened to the public for a magical Syrian dinner with refugee chef Mohammad Elkhaldy as part of the Refugee Food Festival. In 2019, the Refettorio will be expanding its activities while continuing to support the vulnurable population that it serves and to inspire community participation and resiliency.

New openings in 2018

Credits: Laurent Dupont

9Food for Soul

The Social Tables Made in Cloister were inaugurated in December 2018 thanks to the collaboration between Food for Soul and Fondazione Made in Cloister. The space, located in the area of Porta Capuana in Naples, is a cultural centre created by the Fondazione in 2012 to host exhibitions and cultural events as a way of celebrating the artistic assets of the local community. Since December, every Monday night, the space has also been welcoming people in situations of social vulnerability referred by the social cooperative Dedalus for a nourishing meal cooked with surplus ingredients.

Every Monday morning, high quality ingredients are donated to the Social Tables Made in Cloister and turned into a three course menu by guest chefs from the Neapolitan gastronomic scene. The meal is then served by a group of young students from the Isabella d’Este Caracciolo institute, a local professional school of enogastronomy, as part of an effort to train new generations of professionals in the hospitality sector to be more aware of social and environmental issues.

According to the latest statistics, one in two people in the Campania region is at risk of poverty, lives in low labour intensity families or is in a situation of serious material deprivation. In Naples, one of the cities with the highest birth rate in Italy, youth unemployment has reached an alarming 52%. In this context, Porta Capuana remains one of the most popular neighborhoods of the city. Located near the Aragonese walls, it has been for centuries the limit between the inside and the outside, being a way station for visitors and giving the first welcome to travellers. The Social Tables Made in Cloister fit into this tradition and aim to celebrate the history of this truly special area and give value to its cultural, artistic and gastronomic potential.

Made in CloisterSocial Tables

Credits: Riccardo PIccirillo

10 Food for Soul

Existing projects

Refettorio Ambrosiano

The 2018 calendar of Refettorio Ambrosiano was rich of events, including community activities, concerts, public readings, dinners and workshops. Particularly popular were the afternoon workshops with the seniors of the neighbourhood and the morning classes with local high-school students on social and environmental issues connected with the services offered by the Refettorio. In June, the Refettorio invited friends, supporters, chefs, guests and volunteers to celebrate three years since its opening and to share its efforts to foster social inclusion and food recovery.

Refettorio Gastromotiva

Throughout the year, Refettorio Gastromotiva continued to offer a healthy and in-season dinner service to vulnearable individuals from the local community. On top of the regular services offered by the Refettorio, the space was also used to organise fairs and workshops with local organisations and enterprises as a way of involving the neighbourhood in the work of the Refettorio, and of creating a more sustainable food ecosystem.

The strategic growth of Refettorios and Social Tables was one of our goals for 2018. The work of our operating partners, along with the support of technical and financial donors, volunteers, artists and local actors, has allowed the different projects to strenghten their existing activities and to propose new ones.

Credits: Nicola Farina

Credits: Food for Soul

11Food for Soul

Refettorio Felix at St Cuthbert’s

While continuing to offer a daily, nourishing lunch service to vulnerable individuals from the local community, in 2018 the Refettorio Felix at St Cuthbert’s invested time and resources in the organisation of activities for guests, volunteers and the local community as a whole. These included supper clubs, community dinners, art classes, nutritional workshops and culinary training courses to help the guests of the Refettorio find stable employment in the hospitality sector.

Social Tables Ghirlandina

In 2018, the volunteers of the Social Tables Ghirlandina had the pleasure to work side by side with the young students of two professional schools, Serramazzoni and Nazareno, who cooked, once a month, for the guests using only surplus ingredients donated by the vendors of Modena historic market. The experience has helped the students to see food surplus under a different light and to develop a different sensitivity towards social vulnerability and isolation.

Social Tables Antoniano

Over the past year, the Social Tables Antoniano have been focusing on improving their services while implementing new ways to facilitate social inclusion and community participation. As a result of their efforts, more families have been joining the Monday evening service as well as the other activities organised by the Antoniano. The organisation has also managed, through a local sponsor, to cover the costs related to public transportation allowing families who wouldn’t be able to afford to travel to the Social Tables Antoniano to access their services.

Credits: Food for Soul

Credits: Food for Soul

Credits: Food for Soul

12 Food for Soul

Learning Network

The Learning Network was created in December 2017 with the idea of developing a community of Food for Soul’s operational partners and to design a space to dialogue, exchange information, and empower each other. Through the development of multilateral relationships between Food for Soul and its partners, the intended outcomes are:

1. Become an interconnected, financially stable, community of organisations and individuals who, while sharing similar values, have different experiences and approaches and who can learn from and support each other.

2. Make sure that across the network, participants continue to offer high-quality services to their communities.

3. Develop the tools to measure the impact that Refettorios and Social Tables have on their communities as well as the ripple effect that they are having on wider audiences and craft ways to communicate such impact;

4. Become an influential voice for change and advocate based on our diverse experiences for resilient communities and equitable food ecosystems.

II Learning Network Meeting

In July 2018, Food for Soul organised the II Learning Network meeting in London, UK. Representatives from Refettorios and Social Tables were invited to participate. The workshop was attended by staff members from Refettorio Ambrosiano, Refettorio Gastromotiva, Refettorio Felix at St Cuthbert’s, Refettorio Paris and Social Tables Antoniano. The workshop took place over two days at Refettorio Felix at St Cuthbert’s in London. This gave participants the opportunity to see the space, meet the staff, help with the service and experience a different reality.

All the activities planned for the second Learning Network meeting aimed at creating an environment where partners would feel empowered to share information, update each other, ask questions and work together. These included presentations, discussions, workshops with guest speakers, and brainstorming sessions on the development of tools and strategies for the growth of the Learning Network. At the end of the meeting, all partners reported being inspired by the discussions and eager to continue engaging with each other.

In 2019, we are planning to continue supporting all of our partners through the Learning Network and to invest resources in the development of tools that can facilitate the work of the single organisations, as well as the Network as a whole, and to work together to find ways to capture the impact that Food for Soul and the existing projects are having.

13Food for Soul

Credits: Food for Soul

14 Food for Soul

What the future holds for us

Strategic DevelopmentThroughout 2018, Food for Soul has conducted assessment, by the organization’s leadership and third party consultative services, of its internal and external processes, outcomes, operational and community-based relationships. In 2019, this process will result in the implementation of our three-year strategic plan. Our focus is to build operational capacity, resources and demonstrate measurable qualitative impact of our programs. Our strategic efforts will ensure long-term sustainability of our projects, strenghten our partnerships and allow us to scale our model and develop replication opportunities.

Our strategic priorities are:

1. Create Measurable Impact

2. Execute Top-Level Productivity

3. Enhance Performance

4. Grow Financial Security

Innovation Hub

One of our greatest assets is the ability to connect a global network of expertise and diverse disciplines to cultivate and share bold and innovative ideas, and best practices. Born out of this imagination, inspiration and creativity, Food for Soul will launch The Innovation Hub in late 2019. The hub will live as a virtual forum to showcase research study, measure program efficacy, and engage educational opportunities. By bringing together thought leaders, changemakers, field experts, academics and students, the aim of The Innovation Hub will be to encourage innovation, and critical thinking through an interdisciplinary approach.

The interconnection of different disciplines, including culinary arts, design, art, food systems and health, will translate into the successful creation, development, beta-testing, and advancement of tools, resources, and models that offer a transformational opportunity to improve environmental, cultural, social and economic conditions.

15Food for SoulCredits p15: Food for Soul

Credits p14: Simon Owen Red Photographic

16 Food for Soul

“This is the only place that doesn’t make me depressed. It’s everything – the staff, the space, the windows, the plants, the

food is art on a plate. Everywhere else it’s like losing energy, like people and places suck energy from you. This place gives energy.”

(Guest of the Refettorio Felix at St Cuthbert’s)

“Beauty is never on the list of things we think of as social goods. We are locked in the 19th century with the idea of the deserving poor. But beauty brings us together, takes the fear away. We are thrilled to be involved. Wellbeing is at the core of our work - the space is an explicit example of the power of design and beauty -

something that makes all of us feel good.” (Ilse Crawford from London-based design studio StudioIlse)

“You have a platform, a large playground and you can attract a lot of different friends - this is the multi-cultural approach typical of Massimo. It’s not just food, it’s much more. This ability to attract, to create a gravitational force. People are coming from different

experiences, from business, from the environmental spheres. There is nothing else like this - we like it because it is unique. It is the combination between environmentalism, social inclusion,

food equality, level of service, kindness, generosity, quality, hospitality, art and design.”

(Lavazza, Food for Soul sponsor)

“Being here this evening is a spectacular thing. My heart is beating in the kitchen, and my staff are able to have the

experience of bringing their food to everyday people. I haven’t felt this excited in the kitchen for a long time”

(Robbie Pezzuol, guest chef Social Tables Antoniano)

““

17Food for Soul

Our PartnersFood for Soul relies on the generosity and support of companies and foundations who help us to empower our existing programs and projects, develop new ones and grow sustainably as an organisation. A special thank you goes to our official partner, sponsors, technical partners, supporters and all the individuals who have helped us achieve our goals in 2018.

Official Partners

Sponsors

Technical Partners

With Support from:

18 Food for Soul

Financial Report

Financial RepoRt - 31 DecembeR 2018

bnkr

.it

Food for Soul

Via Rua Muro 85, 41121 Modena, ItalyC.F. 94184720368 / T +39 059 2152805

info@foodforsoul.it www.foodforsoul.it Cover photo: Nicola Farina